Boehner: Everything 'except raising taxes'

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Sunday entitlement reform, including changes to Medicare, should "be on the table" during discussions with the White House over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, although he once against declared that he won't back any tax increase to close the budget deficit.

Boehner also slammed President Barack Obama as "really not serious about tackling the big problems that face our country."

"Medicare, Medicaid ... everything should be on the table, except raising taxes. Because raising taxes will hurt our economy and hurt our ability to create jobs in our country," Boehner added during an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation."

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other Republicans have suggested that Medicare reform can't be tackled until after the 2012 elections. Boehner, though, has insisted that changes to entitlement programs have to be part of a $2 trillion dollar spending cut package that he would like to see included as part of a debt-ceiling boost. Ryan has called for making Medicare a voucher program that would permit participants to seek private insurance.

"We’ve put forward our plan. And our plan said that no one 55 or older would have any changes to their current plan," Boehner noted. "But for those 54 and younger, I think it’s time to make changes to those plans or they won’t exist. Remember, the greatest threat to our country and to our economy is doing nothing."

Boehner also refused once again to even consider tax increases as part of that debt deal reiterating the GOP position on the issue. President Barack Obama and some Democrats have called for the end to Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

"The top 1 percent of wage earners in the United States pay 40 percent of the income taxes," Boehner said. "The top 10 percent of wage earners pay 90 percent of the income taxes. The people he’s talking about taxing are the very people that we expect to reinvest in our economy and to create jobs in our country."